


Choices

by J_33



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, I will fix was Wheedon has done!, post Age of Ultron, romanogers - Freeform, so help me god
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-28 22:38:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3872338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_33/pseuds/J_33
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was like no mission they have ever faced. Even Captain America and the Black Widow had their limits, and this came pretty damn close. They were outnumbered, but determined to get through the night babysitting the Barton children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Choices

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on a writing spree so enjoy this fic:)

This was like no mission they have ever faced. Even Captain America and the Black Widow had their limits, and this came pretty damn close. They were outnumbered, but determined to get through the night babysitting the Barton children.

 

The baby, Nathaniel was taking a nap, but Lila and Cooper were a little bit more difficult to handle.

 

Steve and Natasha had infiltrated a Hydra base with the new Avengers team a day previous, so they were both still recovering from the toll it took on their bodies, enhanced or not.

 

Clint had taken Laura out to dinner for their wedding anniversary, so it was almost impossible for Natasha to say no to watch the kids for the night. Steve offered to help, and that was just an added bonus, plus she didn’t think she could handle three kids by herself.

 

Now here they were, in Iowa while Steve took turns carrying Lila and Cooper around on his shoulders, and Natasha watched in amusement. “Hey guys,” Natasha started, sensing it was time to give Steve a much needed break. “Why don’t we watch a movie?”

 

They picked Toy Story 3, and Steve had to keep poking her in the arm to keep her from dozing off, earning a death stare from Natasha every time. Two hours later, the movie came to an end, and the only thing that remained was the smell of popcorn in the room.

 

“I think it is time to call it a night,” Steve said to the kids who were now sprawled out across Natasha and him on the couch.

 

“But I’m not tired,” Cooper protested, though the yawn that he tried but failed to stifle proved him wrong.

 

“How about you two get ready for bed, and then I’ll tell you a story,” Steve bargained with them.

 

Finally after about a minute of discussing the ‘deal,’ the kids obliged, and made their way upstairs to get ready for bed. “You’re quite the negotiator Captain,” Natasha said with a smirk.

 

Steve mouthed a thanks, before following them upstairs, while Natasha went to check on the baby.

 

Walking into their shared bedroom, he found Lila dressed in her Hello Kitty pajamas, and Cooper in his Star Wars ones. Steve settled on telling them a story about his best friend who saved his life more times than he could count both on and off the battle field.

 

Upon finishing his story, he could tell that they were tired, so he decided to wrap things up, and let them sleep. But before he could do that, he was interrupted by the quite, high pitched voice of Lila Barton.

 

“Steve?” she asked.

 

“Yes,” he replied in curiosity.

 

“Do you like Auntie Nat?”

 

“I like her a lot. She’s a very impressive person,” Steve said back.

 

“But do you like _like_ her?” the little girl asked.

 

“Why do you ask?”

 

“I heard mommy and daddy talking about how long you guys can pretend to be just friends,” she said in an oblivious tone.

 

Steve laughed to himself, not sure how to respond to that. He did like Natasha, a lot, and some days he wanted her to be more than the friend that he asked her to be, but they were co-leaders of the Avengers now, and he couldn’t risk hurting the team, for the sake of being in a relationship with her. Though that didn’t help him like her any less. Anyway, she liked Bruce, or she did before he disappeared, and now was too soon to put himself in the equation.

 

“It’s late,” he said. “Why don’t we talk about this another time, when you’re older?”

 

Lila sighed in frustration, but didn’t object. “G’night,” she said with her eyes shut, as she settled under the covers.

 

“Sleep tight,” Steve said back, before shutting the light off, and leaving the room, to go see what Natasha was up to.

 

Outside the nursery he could hear Natasha singing what seemed to be a lullaby in Russian. He entered the room, with a “Bravo,” falling out of his lips.

 

Natasha shot him a glare, with the baby still in her arms, rocking back and forth.

 

The humor soon faded, and Steve couldn’t help himself from asking, “Do you ever wonder if you could just put the super hero life behind you, and settle down, maybe start a family?”

 

“I’m not a super hero, Steve, and starting a family is not something I’m capable of,” she stated, with no emotion.

 

“Please, you’d make a great mother--,” he argued, not understanding what she meant.

 

“The Red Room wanted warriors not mothers. It was a part of the graduation ceremony -- they take away the possibility of creating something that could be more important than a mission – something that could comprise everything,” she said shakily, anger evident in her voice

 

“Natasha, I--,” he started.

 

“I can’t blame them. Bringing life into the world would make it that much harder to take it away; just another distraction, and in this line of work there’s no room for distractions,” she finished, setting the now sleeping baby, back down into the crib.

 

“I’m sorry I asked,” Steve said, regretting bringing the topic up, but now understanding why she always said, ‘Love is for children.’

 

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault,” she said back.

 

“Just because you can’t have kids, doesn’t make you any less of a women or a person,” Steve said quietly.

 

“I know that,” she began, wiping a stray tear from her eye. “Even if I could, I probably never would want to have a child that might have to grow up all alone. It’s just the choice that they took away – that’s what hurts,” she finished, her voice breaking.

 

He didn’t know what to say, so he remained silent, and encouraged her to keep talking. “I thought that maybe if I could just run away, with Bruce, someone who wasn’t a fighter, someone who didn’t want to be a hero, then maybe I could pretend that I was more than the assassin they made me. I never wanted to be a hero, I just wanted to be free, I just wanted to be able to choose for myself, and then I chose to stay and fight Ultron, and he – Bruce chose to run away, and now here I am, alone in the end, like nothing has changed,” Natasha said, not looking him in the eyes.

 

“Our choices make us who we are – they separate us from those who choose different paths, and I have to believe that I chose to become Captain America - that I chose to stay and fight for the right reason, and I wouldn’t choose anyone to fight – to lead this team besides me but you,” he said.

 

“The world has a weird way of making the things that we think we want not what we end up getting.”

 

Steve nodded his head, and said, “I used to think the picket fence life was something that I would have, something that I would want, but I’m not the same guy I was seventy years ago.”

 

“Well,” she said, taking a deep breath, all signs of her being upset, vanishing like nothing ever happened. “I guess we’re not that different after all.”

 

***

 

Clint and Laura returned home an hour later to find the super soldier and the spy curled up on the couch together, sleeping soundly.

 

“Do you think that they figured out that they are perfect for each other?” Laura asked.

 

“I think they have to figure out that they both deserve to a chance at happiness, and then the pieces will fall into place,” Clint replied.

 

“That might take a while, Nat can be pretty stubborn,” she said and Clint nodded in agreement.

 

Laura covered them with a blanket, before walking upstairs to check on the kids, as Clint laughed in the background.

 

 _She sure is stubborn_ , he thought, but all good things are worth the wait, and if anyone deserved something good it was her.

**Author's Note:**

> THanks for reading. I just really needed to write something romanoger about Nat and Steve babysitting the Barton children, and of course the angst was implied.


End file.
